I am having too many points left, and I don't know what this means.

[sky1010]

Hey, I joined weight watchers with a friend as a social thing. I have never done diet clubs before, but I am 1.5 stone over a healthy weight and I thought it would be a nice positive thing to do together. Currently on day 5 and the structure has made me kick some bad snacking habits and I am looking forward to carrying on the plan.

However, I am wary about the points allowance. I am on the 30 smart points allowance which seemed like a lot. I asked my leader about not using them all. She was adamant that I would once I included milk in my tea, all sauces and condiments.

I'm not using all of them, and I don't know how. I have been averaging out at 14 points a day.

Today:
Portion of Greek yogurt and honey.

Lunch:
Tuna salad with pepper and a malt vinegar as 'dressing'

Dinner
Chicken breast with skin, 1/4 a packet of feta, spinach and cherry tomatoes.

Including 2 cups of tea that is 14 points. I am drinking 2 litres of water with lemon too but I don't think that counts?

Other days have been similar. I'm not hungry. I don't need to eat more.

Obviously my first weigh in will tell; but do I need to eat all of my points?

More knowledgeable folk will be along but I really couldnt get on with WW and allthe point counting. So my advice is very basic.

However from my knowledge you don't sound like you are having enough in points or calories. This can mean you end up not losing weight as your body stores everything.

Can you add more to each meal in order to increase your points?

I didn't include my oil, that gives me a grand total of 16 points!

Thank you so much for your response, but I don't know why I need to eat more if I'm not hungry

I have thought about having some more nuts as a snack, but I haven't wanted to eat anything. Eating for the sake of it is why weight has been crept on.

All of the vegetables I like are 'free', I use olive oil and full fat versions of things. Although overindulging in biscuits and pudding has allowed weight to creep on, I actually have quite a small savoury stomach (if such a thing could exist!) I wouldn't be able to eat two chicken breasts.

The only few things I can think of is:
Nuts
More cheese
Having some pancetta or something fried with my chicken?
A few more tablespoons of yogurt?

I just need to know if I need to eat these points for it to work though, I'll have to find a way to force them down if they do.

I know nothing of weight watchers and points, and I'm not a dietician, but your example diet contains basically no complex carbohydrates. You could add brown rice to the dinner, or maybe a small jacket potato? Some beans/pulses to the tuna salad too assuming there weren't any included, and you could add a handful of oatmeal or similar to the breakfast yoghurt.

I would guess that the WW woman's advice was assuming that you'd eat some complex carbs with each meal.

Bread and rice bloats me and makes me feel uncomfortable. Like clothes cutting into me, uncomfortable.

I have can tolerate rye break, and I have m sweet potatoes now and again, but not every day. I could start upping those in my diet.

What are other high carb veg? The only carbs I enjoy eating tend to come from sugar.

Apologies, not a mind reader. What about things like butternut squash, and other root vegetables? Also, other types of grain like pearl barley, quinoa (not really a grain but similar) and so on. Lentils are good too.

You're hardly eating anything.

There's no harm in some snacking. In fact you'd be better snacking to use your points. WW isn't going to work when you're using so few points.

Do take your diary to class with you so your leader can see how little you're having and offer some pointers

I am doing Smart Points on WW too. Most days I don't eat my 30 points either - and haven't yet broken in to the weekly allowance.

However, I don't know if you are eating enough. Everyone is different - but don't you get hungry?

See how your weight loss goes for a few weeks - but if you are depriving yourself too much it won't be sustainable long term.

Good luck with the plan OP. I enjoy it so far.

This happened to me when I did weight watchers years ago - I don't have a big appetite and I really struggled to eat all the points. At my first weigh in, I'd put on weight!! I was gutted and explained to the leader about not eating all the points and she explained that you have to eat a certain amount of calories otherwise your body will just store what you do eat. So I literally started eating a mars bar or something similar just to make the points up each day and I lost every week after that - weird.

WW is a balanced dietary plan based around increasing ones awareness of high point foods and then decreasing your portion size of these. It presumes a balanced mixed diet: the points you are allocated is based on your bodyweight to maintain your metabolic rate..

Just because you are counting WW points doesn't mean you are following their plan if you are low carbing (which you are). You'd be better to save your weekly fee and buy your self a copy of atkins: the reason you aren't hungry is either that your portions are bigger than you have calculated the points for or you are in ketosis, in which case you need to triple your water intake: as long as you stay in ketosis you will continue to lose but it isn't sustainable.

Your diet is healthy but not sustainable. Weight watchers isnt about eating the worlds most healthy diet it's about realistic long term weight loss, which is not achievable on such a restrictive diet.

You can eat all your dailies and all your weeklies and STILL lose weight, trust the plan!

If I'm under 20sp's used in a day (I get 38) I'll have a hot chocolate made with milk in the evening (6sps) with a biscotti (2 sp's). I LOVE to dunk biscuits in hot chocolate, it's such a simple pleasure and by denying myself this, what would I achieve? I'd miss it, probably over compensate and binge. It's within my points budget for the day, so why not??

You say you enjoy sugar, then have more sugar it's not going to kill you and as long as it's within your points budget, you can eat it guilt free!

I think you may have an issue with food guilt: You see food as "good" or "bad" and are taking WW as a "diet" rather than a lifestyle, hence you're avoiding food you perceive as "bad" completely.

You're only a stone and a half over weight so probably haven't handled obesity or weight loss for a lifetime so it's natural to see things this way when you start out, but to be successful you need to let go of the connotations you have on certain foods and accept that you can eat those things and still be on plan!

Be kind to yourself

50 g of dried prunes is 4 points so you could snack on those and bring up your points ....

Today I had 3x bread and peanut butter I had ww meal and 3 pieces of fresh fruit but I'm soon confused with the points value for this I'm on 40 pp a day